Thomas William Sweeny

Thomas William Sweeny (25 December 1820-10 April 1892) was a US Army Brigadier-General during the American Civil War.

Biography
Thomas William Sweeny was born in Cork, Ireland in 1820, and he emigrated to the United States in 1833 and served in the US Army during the Mexican-American War, being wounded in the groin at the Battle of Cerro Gordo and losing his right arm at the Battle of Churubusco. His injury did not stop him from fighting in the Yuma War and then in the American Civil War, protecting the St. Louis arsenal from Confederate sympathizers at the start of the conflict in 1861. He led a brigade at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 and was shot twice in the left arm and in one of his legs, and his men admired him for giving every limb of his body in combat. He led a division at the Battle of Atlanta, and he was nearly court-martialed for getting into a fight with Grenville M. Dodge after Dodge took over Sweeny's division during the battle. He was mustered out in August 1865, and he led a failed 1866 invasion of Canada on behalf of the Fenian Brotherhood. He was arrested for violating US neutrality, but he was soon released, and he died in Astoria, Long Island in 1892.